Target
by AbRaCaDaBrA
Summary: How William Stryker got Kurt Wagner into his sinister plans...Shortly before X2. Please review.
1. Part the First

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Target

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by abracadabra

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~X~

William Stryker, short, fat, balding, and incredibly lethal, crossed his arms and faced the window, his left hand holding a black mug with even blacker coffee long gone cold. For a while, he let his own thoughts chase themselves around in his brain, waiting to see how long Colonel Krawley would stand mute and army-still. Finally, though, Stryker became bored with the silence, and turned to the officer. He was tall, straight, with sharply chiseled features and a constant cold expression, and paid extremely close attention to the military strategist.

"What I need," began Stryker, choosing his words carefully, "is _something_ that would persuade the President to take my…_program _into effect – at all costs." 

"Perhaps you could expose some illegal mutant activity?" 

"See, that's the problem, Colonel. I have leads, and quite obvious ones at that, towards precisely what you're talking about. However…I procured it rather _unconventionally_, and as I doubt there's some way for my methods to be shown as either legal or illegal, due to their…_nature_…I'd like to have something more obvious and jarring for the President than what I've discovered."

"Your 'methods'?"

"I'll show you sometime other than now."

"What kind of 'jarring' are you talking about, sir?"

Stryker pondered that question for a moment before replying. "Where he's absolutely forced into taking action against the mutants."

Krawley looked away from him and browsed the library of American military and political history on the far wall with his eyes. Returning to Stryker's gaze, he licked his lips, a subtle gesture of nervousness, and said, "Are you looking for casualties?"

"No-" Stryker began, and then stopped himself. Normally, he would always try to avoid casualties – always a lot of second-guessing and paperwork associated with them, and he'd had enough clouding his near perfect record as a strategist. But this was different. This was something he had been working for, more or less secretly, for nearly two-thirds of his life. Why would he let a death or two get in the way of finally being able to call the shots? He wasn't going to let himself go soft in later years, not when his goal was so close. 

"Sir?" Krawley interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes? Yes," answered Stryker finally, jiggling the coffee mug and wondering where the nearest fresh coffee pot would be. "I'm ready for casualties. Why?"

"I have an idea," replied the Colonel. He strode over to the shelves, freed a slim, dust-jacketed hard cover from the books, and turned it towards Stryker. An eccentric-looking 19th century man with a rifle and a huge beard was on the cover. "Do you remember Harper's Ferry?"

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~X~

Kurt Wagner put his three-fingered hands on the edge of the rickety table and sighed heavily, lowering his head and closing his eyes slowly. The last performance of his American tour had been a success, as usually, and then, suddenly, he was free. The airplane he was going to take home to Munich wasn't departing until early morning – when everyone would be groggy, and the cabin dark, just the way he wanted it. In the meantime, he had a whole night to pack up his meager belongings and prepare to go into the normal world, and he wasn't sure just what he was going to do.

"You going to get back to church all right?" asked Jonas, who was wheeling a large box in a barrow towards the trailers. 

"_Ja_. I told you I could stay in it for hovever long I vanted to. Vhenever I need a place, He provides." Kurt smiled a fanged grin at his friend.

"All right," the human replied. "I'll see you later." He stopped the barrel, turned to face Kurt, and spoke honestly. "It was real nice to have you in our circus. Do you think you'll come back?"

Kurt shrugged and flicked his tail. "Vadsever happens, happens. I do miss my homeland, but ids very interesting here."

"Interesting?" Jonas looked at him quizzically. 

"Zhe fact zhat you American humans are trying bozh to…combine vizh and divide vizh zhe mutants at zhe same time. In Münich, humans just sort of go about zheir business, and if zhat has to do vizh a mutant, zhey don't really zhink about it. Here, everyvone makes such a fuss about it…like it's some kind of plague or disease." He involuntarily shuddered. 

"Yeah…well, not everyone's so keen on having people they think are better than them running about, but we do seem to make everything seem so black and white here." Jonas looked off for a second. "Well, I have to get going. Thanks for being here."

"_Bitte schon_." Kurt smiled again, stood up from the table, and walked off into the falling darkness. 


	2. Part the Second

"Yes! Yes, this is exactly what I'm looking for. Excellent work, soldier." The short corporal nodded nervously and stepped back, as if Stryker was going to suddenly change his mind. "As you were." Stryker nodded towards the door, and the corporal practically bolted out of the room. Krawley closed the door with a smart click and turned towards Stryker. 

"Who is it, sir?" asked Krawley, overriding his professionalism in trying to see what was on the paper in the strategist's fist. 

"A circus performer…agile, quick, a teleporter, excellent…from Germany, I assume. Quite scary looking. He'll be perfect." Stryker held up the green poster with a stylized sketch of Kurt Wagner on the front and then scanned through the information at the bottom. "He's only going to be in America for a short time. We'll have to find where he is as soon as possible." He thought quickly, sipping the tepid coffee impatiently. Yuriko could find him using the database, but it would have to be now or never. "Get me some special ops – three should do it – and get a jet and land transport ready for six passengers. I'll let my assistant take over his location search."

"Yes, sir." The colonel saluted Stryker, turned on his heel, opened the door, and left. Stryker waited a few seconds, and then closed and securely locked the door. He strode over to the desk, reached under the seat opening, and pressed a hidden button. There was a slight whirring sound, and a wall panel slid behind its neighbor to reveal a strong-looking, beautiful Japanese woman, apparently asleep, bound to the wall with adamantium chains. 

He opened a drawer, drew out a syringe full of a greenish-yellow serum, and walked over to the unconscious woman. Tilting her head and hair forward, he revealed a circular lesion on the back of her neck and dripped three drops of the serum into it. He then tugged at a lever, releasing the chains and dropping Yuriko to the floor. She didn't move at first, but Stryker kicked her unceremoniously in her side, and she slowly stood up, ice blue eyes focusing.

"I need you to find the location of this mutant," he told her simply, handing her the poster the corporal had found. She blinked and nodded, walking out of the door as he unlocked it and opened it for her.

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~X~

"After this mission, Colonel, you're going to have to step back. People might get suspicious if we're confidentially associated beyond this."

"I understand. You are sure about this information, sir?" asked Krawley, looking carefully at the printed documents as the Atlantic Coast flew by in the jet's windows.

"My assistant is the best," replied Stryker, stealing a small smile at his creation sitting behind him, cracking her fingers instinctively. He looked at the three grim, expressionless special ops and then back to Krawley. "Was it hard to secure them, Colonel?"

"I know what I'm doing," he replied. "This entire mission is being erased as it happens."

"Good," finished Stryker simply.

An hour later, the sun was just beginning to set as the jet touched down in an old runway about twenty miles outside of Boston. This was the city that Yuriko had pinpointed as the location of the target's performance of the day, and a Jeep in the back was all that was needed to get everyone to the circus grounds from this strategic point. 

"Remember, soldiers, that we are tracking, _not_ attacking, the target. Stealth is key here. We cannot let it see us before we want to. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the special ops replied in unison.

"Excellent. Let's get started." Stryker grinned as the Jeep roared to life. He was finally on the home stretch to achieving his goal.


	3. Part the Third

Kurt took a quick peek behind him to make sure no one else was looking at him on the street, and then teleported to just inside the church doors. _BAMF!_

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~X~

"There it –" 
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BAMF!

"Shit!" Stryker grumbled as the blue-black smoke quickly dissipated into the night wind. "We're going to have to find a new entrance."

"Or make it," replied Krawley, looking annoyed.

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~X~

He walked down the dusty aisle between the dilapidated pews, tail swishing, and began to throw the few items he owned into a well-worn duffel bag. Just as he began to untack his various posters from the partial wall, there came a funny screech from the far side of the church, like glass on metal. He was just going to investigate it when he remembered how windy it was outside, and decided it was a part of the old church falling apart. He prayed the place would stay up, and continued packing.

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~X~

Stryker hated to admit it, but he did need some help getting through the broken window. Yuriko gave him assistance and, both obviously and gratefully, didn't say a thing. Now, they, Krawley, and one soldier were inside the dark church, the two others outside and ready to give assistance with a silent electronic link from the colonel. They analyzed their surroundings: a nearly dark church , the only light coming in from street lamps outside. Suddenly, a new light blazed in the semi-darkness. 

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~X~

"_Unser Vater, der im Himmel ist_," began Kurt, lighting a candle for what he thought would be the last time. _Zhank you for zhe shelter, Fazher, and I hope my journey home is uneventful._

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~X~

Stryker signaled Yuriko towards the kneeling figure, his head lowered and hands clasped in prayer. Quiet as a cloud, she padded over the muffling dust on the floor, until she was just behind his back and stilled tail. She looked at Stryker, who nodded. 

In a flash, she had grabbed the back of the target's upper arms and slammed him into the wooden rack, his face dangerously close to the burning candle. "_Mein Gott!_" he screamed, thrashing his tail and trying to escape from Yuriko's grip. She deftly pinned the tail under her right foot, and as Krawley and the soldier rushed forward to take over, she extended her adamantium claws with a sinister smile.

"Not now, Yuriko," corrected Stryker with an equally evil smile, following the others. 

Apparently the colonel had called in the other soldiers, for with a loud bang the front doors opened and they came running towards the still screaming target. One quickly held down his legs as the other got his hand bitten, cursed, and then shoved his flashlight in the target's mouth. For a few tense seconds, the target kept struggling, but he soon gave up and sagged onto the floor and candle rack.

"Is it secure?" asked Stryker, drawing the syringe from his pocket.

"Yes, sir," replied Krawley, relieved. 

The target muttered something incomprehensible through the flashlight and closed his yellow eyes in defeat. Stryker dropped his solution into the back of the target's neck with an eerily satisfying sizzling sound and replaced the syringe. He sighed happily, and said, "Good job, men, Yuriko. Let's get him back to Washington and get him ready." The special ops lifted the limp form of the mutant into their arms and followed Yuriko, Krawley, and Stryker out of the front doors of the church.

"Finally, things are going to go my way."

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-x~X~x~X~x-

A/N: Please review me – I will gladly take (and often follow) advice, and I would really appreciate it if you wrote an honest critique. 

Harper's Ferry, for those who aren't up on American history, was where a radical named John Brown (on the cover of the book Krawley uses) riled up freedmen and current slaves into a rebellion. I used this in the context of _Target_ by illustrating their use of Kurt as a symbol for a fake rebellion, which of course the President would have to crush by giving Stryker power. 

This was my first X-men story on FF.Net, and so I would love feedback. –abracadabra

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Thanks to a bunch of lovely reviews, this story has a sequel! It is entitled _Captive_ and you can read it here: 


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